Is Linux a desktop operating system?

[Christoph Georgi]

Concerning the home user I have to agree with Hagen: they use what they 
get and they are not going to install either Winodws or Linux ever again 
on their computer. They leave their operating system alone. Would you 
give them a computer with Linux preinstalled, I'm sure they'd be happy, 
get used to the couple of differences in using the whole thing and 
that's it.
I tried to convince some of my friends to use Linux, but they didn't 
switch mainly for the following two reasons:

* OpenOffice is not fully compatible with MS Office,
* No native multimedia support (please, no flames ;) )

Although they are fully aware of the hassles one has with Windows, they 
don't put any effort into adopting a different OS. IMO it comes down to 
"resistance to change".

I see a greater chance for Linux to become a more common desktop OS in 
both, the home and the enterprise market, if Linux manages to establish 
itself at work. Although conquering the enterprise's desktop still 
requires a lot of effort, having folks using Linux at work will make 
them more likely to adopt the same OS at home. Futhermore, application 
development is mainly driven by corporate demand rather than private 
one, except for games.
The biggest barriers these days for Linux to become a more widely 
deployed desktop OS in enterprises seems to evolve around compatibility 
issues with the productivity suites as OpenOffice is not fully 
compatible with MS Office. (please correct me if I'm mistaken)


christoph
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Christoph Georgi
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email.  christoph.georgi at web.de
fon.	+64 (0)9 815 8259

registered linux user #380268
ubuntu 5.04 (ubuntu.com)